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Thursday, December 27, 2012

How do you get inspiration to write posts? I'm sure what comes to mind most often is events that happen during the day or week. Sometimes that is true for me, but more often than not a song inspires me. I never realized how much music was a part of my life. I listen to a song and it sparks this emotion down deep inside of me and I never realized I was harboring it.

I wanted to share some of the songs that have "gotten me through" this past year. At the time I didn't realize they were getting me through, but looking back at how many times they were played, I think they did. I also want to throw in a few of the not so highly played (because I just found them within the last month or so), but highly cherished songs.

So I chose to chose 5 songs that I played a lot over the year and bring back memories from the year, and my top 5. So lets get started, shall we?!

10.Sweet Southern Comfort by Buddy JewellPlays: 11 Why I love it: This lovely song I found by listening to my town's country music radio the day the Mayan calendar said the "world was ending." It reminded me what I love about the south, what I enjoy in life and why I should just stop to appreciate it all. I also happened to visit many of the states that are mentioned in this song this summer. Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. Roll Tide Roll! Yes, I was converted to a Bama fan!

9. Marry Me by Train Plays: 53 Why I love it: This year I found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. As I listen to the lyrics of this song it reminds me of all the people I love, not just J. My post Forever Could Never Be Long Enough For Me is a post about the people I love inspired by this song. The lines:
"Forever could never be long enough for me
To feel like I've had long enough with you"
are the ones that truly inspired that post. I also really feel connected to another set of lines:
"Together could never be close enough for me
To feel like I'm close enough to you"

8. Quiet Your Mind by Zac Brown Band Plays: 65 Why I love it: As I was preparing to graduate, the Ambassadors (an organization I belonged to that gives school tours) did a senior movie. Each senior had to pick out a song that they wanted to play during their section. I felt this was a good song for me. This isn't really the typical "graduation" song, but if you really listen to it, it makes sense to use it in that context. At the ending of this part of my life, I felt like there was so much going on, and I just needed to relax, enjoy my life and where it took me. Quiet my mind and find the educated woman I wanted to be.

7. Carolina by Eric Church Plays: 68 Why I love it: When I listen to this song, I have this one image in my mind. J and I were driving on the lonely long stretch of road outside of the back gate, but before you hit civilization. We were playing this song with the windows down and the summer wind blowing in my face right at sunset. I was so happy and felt a great calm and peace. When I had to go back home after spending a month with him, I listened to this song... Carolina kept calling me home.

6. Hell on the Heart by Eric ChurchPlays: 72Why I love it: This is another song that evokes an image and memories. Much of my summer was spent at my families beach house which is also 2 hours from J. So every time I would come down, J would come up. When we would get in the car, this was the song we would put on. He would hold my hand and look at me and sing this line to me "I can read your face like a book" and
"She's good when she's bad and she's cute when she's mad and she does all the wrong things right"
I would sing him the line "But here's the kicker son, your old tickers gonna beat you half to death"

5. I Won't Give Up On Us by Jason Mraz Plays: 76 Why I love it: I found this song at the start of the year. About 15 days later I met J. I was at a difficult time in my life at that point. I had been in a relationship that I thought was going to be forever and I didn't know how to get into another relationship and trust or love again. J changed all of that. He showed me it was okay to move on, okay to love again. There was one very rough time between us where we didn't talk for a month. This song helped me through that time and reminded me not to give up on him and us.

4. Let It Go by Zac Brown Band Plays: 79 Why I love it: This one actually doesn't have some deep meaning behind it. I mean not as deep as the others. It's more of a playful song that I listened to when I wanted to be in a happier mood. When something doesn't go my way and I can't change it, I just have to let it go. It reminds me to not hold on to grudges, not think so much and just follow my heart and live life.

3. This I Gotta See by Jason Aldean Plays: 102 Why I love it: This song honestly just reminds me of how much J loves me and loves to come see me. He treats me like a princess. I imagine this is the type of song going through his mind when he is on his way to see me. It's good to be somebody's "This I Gotta See"

2. Colder Weather by Zac Brown Band Plays: 158Why I love it: This one is more like a why it makes me feel better. The previous relationship mentioned in song #5 really hurt me. I had a hard time getting him out of my life, an even harder time trying to stop love him. Whenever I felt like I needed to talk to him or tell him something I would listen to this song. The man I loved was definitely a rambling man with a gypsy soul and he knew I would only hold him down.

1. Free by Zac Brown Band Plays: 168Why I love it: This song always gave me hope. It wasn't until recently that it had more meaning to me. Honestly, I love it because I know one day I will be "free" of the things that currently hold me back. Also the picture is taken by a friend when the Zac Brown Band came to play at my college my freshman year. I also think that is why I love this song so much.

I also realized that I listen to a lot of country music more specifically Zac Brown Band. Did any of my top 10 songs make a blip on your years playlist? What songs made the biggest impact in your life this year?

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sometimes a good cry is really all you need. I like to try to be strong, but lately almost everything has been making me cry. I'm not really sure what has changed that makes me cry at the drop of a hat. I guess family tension is a little high right now.

I've found that making lists and being able to cross things off of them really help me. Also listening to music that makes me happy and especially watching one of my favorite TV shows.

M*A*S*H is one of my favorite TV shows. I don't really know how I got started watching it. I remember sitting with my friends in high school and turning on TV Land and just watching it for hours, or however long it was on. Eventually I got the box set with all of the episodes ever made.

I revisited this show when I faced a very sad night. Somehow watching Hawkeye and Frank Burns and Honeycut and everybody makes me feel better about whatever is going on in my life. It seemed to stick and now I turn it on almost every night before I go to bed.

But when I'm feeling sad, or crying without control, I generally pull out the old 4077 and watch it. I'm really glad I found this as a way to make myself feel better.

Friday, December 21, 2012

I am really wanting this Christmas to be a very good Christmas.

I have yet to watch one of my favorite Christmas movies, This Christmas. But no worries, it will be watched.

For some reason, I just haven't been in the Christmas mood. Heck, I'm not counting down the days until Christmas as much as I'm counting down the days until I can be with J. He had to cover Christmas day so others could be off for Christmas. He started 12 hour shifts through Christmas. Which is kind of a bummer because I miss talking to him before I go to bed. Oh well...

Honestly, he was at the top of my Christmas list this year. We haven't actually spent a Christmas together, but I was really wanting it to happen this year. Hopefully it will work out that we can next year.

I also wanted to share a little blast from Christmas past...

Christmas 2009

I also want to share a great opportunity with y'all to help out a a new friend of mine, Katie. She is in need of some bloggie help. Please visit Katie's site for more information and give her some help!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

I have been going through a crisis about what I want to do with my life...

My original plan was to go to graduate school for immunology. What I'm going to do with my PhD I'm not really sure. I would love to do research, but you have to have money to do research... which means I would work for a company and do their research, not my own.

Right now, all the job interviews I've been on has been working instruments in a chemical lab. Which basically equates to me mixing up some samples. Putting them in the instrument, sitting for about an hour waiting for them to run, maybe mixing up the next batch, getting the print out from the computer and then sending it off. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, it might be kind of interesting, but I think I would be bored out of my mind.

I've recently been thinking about being a teacher. Getting my license and just going to teach biology or chemistry. I really loved tutoring kids in high school and college. This might be something that I like and if I want to go back and get my PhD at a later time, that is always possible.

I just get so upset because besides this new idea of teaching, I have no clue what I want to do with my life. I'm completely clueless. I hope I can figure something out soon.

If you are stopping in for the Wednesday Walkabout please leave me a comment! I would love to hear from you!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Here we are, once again, writing out our lists and getting everything ready for another week. I'm very happy to share with you how I've done this tragic week and see how everything has gone with everybody elses goals.

Last week on 5 for Five... ( it makes me think of the introduction of a tv show, like when they say... Previously on Revenge... yep... I'm catching up on Revenge on Netflix)

1. Keep writing the nightly note cards to J. - I was actually able to write all the cards on the correct day, however, mailing them out did not work so well. I missed the mail one day and apparently didn't put stamps on them, so they didn't go anywhere. Yeah, big mess. I'm going to try harder this week for my final week of Christmas note cards for J.

2. Finish wrapping all of my
presents. - I wrapped all the Christmas gifts. They all look so wonderful.

3. Read to at least 50% in The Happiness Project on my
kindle.

4. Find a new craft project to do.- My original intentions were to make a scarf. BUT I didn't have the time to go out and get the very soft kind of yarn, so I dug through my HUGE box of hand-me-down cross stitching stuff and decided that my new craft project would be an Irish Blessing cross stitching.

5. Keep a
journal/diary and write in it 3 times. - I am apparently not very good at this whole journaling thing. I mean, I did write, but the first night I wrote, I put down the wrong date. I found the next night that I had "already wrote" for that day. haha

5/5 pretty good. I hope that next week can be just as good!

1. Finish up J's note card writing strong!

2. Write 3 more times in my journal.

3. Try my best to meet up with all of my friends during the holidays.
It has been a while since I've spoken to some of my high school and college friends. I have messaged them all and am going to try my best to meet up with them for lunch or something while we are all back in the same area/state.

4. Finish the Happiness Project on my kindle.
I really want to be able to plan it out so I can start my own Happiness Project come the first of the year.

5. Be cheerful the week before Christmas.
I don't want to get upset with J because he is tired and doesn't want to skype or take anything anybody says to me in a harsh way. I want to be glad that I get to spend time with all of the people I love.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Yep, this is one of my favorite pictures of us... Before dinner at the Air Force Ball

2. What do you keep
beside your bed?

Water, the remote controls for the TV, cable and the lights, pictures of J and I and some hair ties.

3. What is your
least favorite chore?

Putting clothes away. I hate it because I have so many clothes that I feel like I don't have any room to put the clean clothes. It sucks.

4. If you could
eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be?

Being bored. Usually at some point during the day I feel bored and I would love to eliminate that. I realize that isn't part of the routine, but I don't really have a routine that I go through each day.

5. What do you do
to vent anger?

Now I call J. That probably isn't the best solution, but that's how I do it. I also sometimes will write in my journal.

6. What is your
favorite holiday of the year and why?

St. Patrick's Day. It's a day traditionally celebrated by the Irish on the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick. This time of year is falls on Christian Lent where they would not eat meat. But for this day they would feast on Irish bacon and cabbage meal and drink and be merry. Not that I follow all of the wisdom of the day, but I'm half Irish and just love being able to take one day to celebrate my heritage.
**knowledge about the history of St. Patrick's Day came from history.com**

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I find that I have a hard time expressing myself on here. I have this image that I feel like I have to live up to. That I can't "be myself". Which is kind of crazy. It's my own blog.

Though I want to try to change that. I want to be able to write about my struggles, my fear and hopes and not just some stuffy post I think I should do.

So I have a few things that I've decided I will talk about more on here. For one, my relationship with J. I have been afraid that people would judge me for my relationship with him. Also my struggles of "having a life" after college.

So I hope y'all will continue to support me and my decision to be more open with my life on here.
Thank you.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Beginning on Black Friday, JC Penny's started a new "promotion". They began giving out buttons that have images on them with codes on the back side. If you go to their website you can register the code to see if you have won.

WELL... apparently I'm lucky. I've been into JC Penny's four times including on Black Friday. So I have received 7 buttons total. Out of those 7 buttons I've won 5 times. Yes, 5/7 buttons is my going rate. But wait there is better news....

With those 5 buttons that I won on, I have received... drum roll please... $55 worth of gift cards.

Here is a look at my lucky winning buttons.

I've found that the "uglier" the button, the more likely it is to win. Of course this isn't a proven fact or anything. It's just a joke between my mom and I.

Mom has been into the store the same about of times I have. She has gotten 8 buttons. Of those buttons, she has won from zero of them. Everytime I go in to tell her that I've won she gives me a discusted look because she gets a big fat goose egg.

So if you can, go to JCP and get some buttons. Maybe you can be a lucky winner too!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Linking up again this week. So let's get started and see how I did last week and what I will try to accomplish this week!

1. Write holiday cards to J everyday. I wrote cards everyday. I didn't get them out on time one of the days, but I mailed them all. So that's good enough.

2. Decorate for Christmas! We finally are all decorated for Christmas. The house looks so lovely!

3. Finish crocheting J's stocking
Epic fail. :( I tried to work on it, but as I was looking at it the "seam" was all crooked. I didn't think I had added stitches, or lost any. So I pulled it out and tried again and got the same effect. I don't know what I'm doing. But it sucks.

4. Go for a walk each day this week.
This gets a yellow because I did miss 1 day of walking due to Christmas decorating and 1 day due to inclimate weather.

5. Do a good job on my interview.I am not so sure that I did "good", but I tried my best and that's all anybody can expect.
So for this week...

1. Keep writing the nightly note cards to J.

2. Finish wrapping all of my presents.
I have most of it done, but I need to find boxes and wrap the odd shaped stuff.

3. Read to at least 50% in The Happiness Project on my kindle.
I am really wanting to start my own happiness project starting in Janurary.

4. Find a new craft project to do.
I feel so lost not really having anything to do. So I want to start something.

5. Keep a journal/diary and write in it 3 times.
I have tried on multiple occasions to keep a journal. I am going to try to accomplish it this time around.

Hey y'all. There are so many wonderful "people" that I love and want to share with you. I say "people" because, well some of them don't talk quite like us, nor do they walk on 2 legs, but one of them sure as heck tries.

I have a somewhat old {2007} DSLR Nikon camera that I loved taking pictures with, but it had gotten stuck in the corner. I just picked it up this past week and started taking some pictures with it. It's Christmas and I want a lot of memories to look back on. So anyway... let me show you some of my memories of the people I love so far...

These few pictures are the results of a warm day outside with my favorite furry friends...

Bo has become a ham for the camera

﻿

See what I mean? He just loves to sit there and pose for me. The little dink that the camera makes when it focuses gets his attention and he just loves to sit and pose.

﻿

Christy, on the other hand, has to be coerced into getting her picture taken... or have it be by surprise. She used to love it though!

I call this one "Christy's view" She didn't want me to take her picture anymore, so I just took one from her perspective. I really like it.

Bo loves to "chase" helocopters or airplanes. Basically anything that is mechanical and flies. If he moves with me to the Air Force Base he is going to have to get over that habit. This is him looking up at the air plane flying over before he ran to chase it!

One night Mama got in the floor with them. I love my Mom more than anything. She is the person I most look up to. And even though we don't always agree on things, I know that she will always love me.

Another night while I was busy cutting out Christmas gift tags, Dad sat down to "read the paper" which really means fall asleep. I love my Dad so much. He is the first man that I knew that could "do anything and everything"

Christy didn't like that Dad wasn't paying attention to her... She had to get in his lap.

And finally the most recent addition to the people I love, John. We can't be together as much as we would like, but I love having our pictures on my nightstand. I can look at them every night before I turn out the lights and I can see them every morning when I wake up. I am so thankful to have him in my life. He is the other man that can "do anything and everything."

Some final thoughts... it wouldn't be Christmas memories without a Christmas tree picture. So here is my view from the couch as I was getting my camera ready to take some pictures.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

I seriously watch this movie every Christmas. I love it so much. It is funny and sweet and has a little bit of suspense. It is really an all around great Christmas movie!

2. Do you do any volunteering during the holidays if so what? If not what would you do?

I don't do any volunteering, but if I did, I think I would volunteer to bake cookies for people or help wrap gifts. Though its probably good I don't volunteer to wrap gifts because I am not always amazing at wrapping. But I like the idea of that.

3. Favorite toy received as a Child for the Holidays?

Gosh, I don't really remember what my favorite toy was. I had a doll named Lisa Poo (apparently when I was a kid I liked the name Lisa and I loved Winnie the Poo so she became Lisa Poo) but I don't know that I got her for Christmas.

I do know that the year the first Ferbies came out and were all the rage I HAD to have one. Then shortly after it got stuck in the closet because it was so annoying. I can't believe they came back. At least they are slightly cooler this time.

4. What was your must have item in high school for the Holidays?

An iPod. I just had to have one because it was the cool thing to have. I'm sure there were some other things that I wanted, but they don't come to mind right now.

5. Item you begged for the most and never got?

I don't really recall anything that I begged for and never got. The one thing I didn't think I was going to get was a Keurig. I really wanted it last year and told my parents, but I said I knew it was expensive so I didn't expect to get it. But I ended up getting it anyway. It was such a surprise. I was so happy!

6. What do you do on Christmas Eve? If you are Jewish what does your family do for Hanukkah?

Every Christmas Eve, we go to my grandmother's house and exchange gifts with the family. It is a huge get together. We have about 35 people on that side of the family. We all bring food and sit around and eat and socialize. Then we play the Chinese gift exchange (or Dirty Santa... where you steal gifts), then finally exchange the real gifts. It is so much fun.

Finally when we get home, I usually open about 2 of my Christmas gifts from my parents then we go to bed. It's something about getting to open a few gifts on Christmas eve that makes it feel so special.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

I am feeling a little bad because she got me such amazing stuff, and I feel like I wasn't a very good stocking partner. But... let me get to showing you how awesome she is!

All my lovely stuff! Sorry about the quality it was taken with my phone

So first of all, I got this awesome stocking with a B on it. It is so lovely. I wish it went with my pink theme this year because I would love to hang it up, hopefully next year I will be able to!

So the biggest part of my stocking was scrapbooking goodies! I am in love with scrapbooking even though I haven't done it in a little while. Hopefully soon I will get back into it and use the lovely gifts Liz bought me!

The next thing I pulled out and probably loved the most is my cute sign. I'm really excited about it.

Yep, it has a hand at the bottom that said Handmade! How cute is that?! I'm just in love. Ok so then I got all kinds of paining goodies and a double faced tape.

Ah how I needed more double faced tape for taping down my pictures in my scrapbook. Man I love this stuff!

Lastly I got some finger nail files, a super cute flower note pad, Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion and a delicious smelling Red Apple Wreath Yankee Candle. Yumm! Oh I also got some Starbursts, but I dug into them right away. No worries I didn't eat all of them in one sitting.